Macdonald agrees but makes another observation.

"Being a doctor in Haiti is like being a doctor for a three-ring circus and a brothel," he says. "On the one hand, you look and see all this amazing talent doing all these incredible feats. But there's also stuff going on behind closed doors you don't want to know about -- corruption, people taking money."

The trick is to not pass judgment, he says.

"You're a guest in someone else's country," he says. "You're fascinated, and helpless to walk away."